I'm not a monster, I've evolved past that
by Radi0Heart
Summary: A six year old Ichigo Kurosaki gets murdered in his home one fateful night. Due to the feelings of resentment the child held for his death, he became a hollow, thus changing the course of fate. Bad summary is bad.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, nor do I own the characters within. Now that we have that covered, this story will be rated M because of death, gore, language, and some sexual stuff later on. If you do not like this, please leave. Thank you, and enjoy the fic.**

Ichigo Kurosaki looked around his room as he woke up from his nightmare. He was six years old, and wanted to run into his parents' bed and find comfort with them. He padded out of his room, when he heard a noise. It was from the living room. Thinking it was his father getting finished with a patient or his mother getting a drink of water, he innocently walked down the stairs and into the room. Standing there were two men, who tossed all of the Kurosaki's expensive possessions into a bag. Ichigo knew that they weren't supposed to be there, and was about to shout for his parents when one of the thieves spotted him. The thief grabbed the orange haired boy's arm and got in his face.

"Okay brat, before you go shouting for mommy and daddy, know that me and my partner have guns, and we will shoot you if you cross us." He hissed out. Ichigo's brown eyes filled with fear and began to tear up.

"Now then, go and take us to a vault or something. Your parents must have something where they keep their valuables." The other thief said. The first thief let go of the child' arm and pulled out a silver pistol, and gestured for Ichigo to go up the stars. He walked up them, whimpering slightly. Ichigo was told to go into his parents' room and go into the safe. Ichigo walked in, and was tempted to wake his parents up when the first thief cocked his gun and pointed it at him. Ichigo walked into his parents' closet and sure enough, there was a small safe. The child fumbled with the combination until, through luck, he managed to open the vault. He grabbed up all the shiny jewelry and anything that looked expensive. He knew what he was doing was bad but he wanted to live.

Once he felt that he had enough valuables, he tip toed out of the closet and handed them to the thieves. The thief sneered and pressed his gun to Ichigo's chest. "Is this the best you can get?" He said to the boy, keeping his voice down so he wouldn't wake up the parents. Ichigo nodded with fear clearly written on his face. The second thief saw another door, the door to Yuzu and Karin's room. He smiled at his partner.

"Hey kid, go in there and get all the good stuff." He said, keeping his gun locked on Ichigo. The orangette whimpered and went into his sleeping sisters' room. He looked around and was about to grab something when Yuzu sat up looking at her older brother.

"Brother, what are you doing here?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. Ichigo held a finger up to his lips to show her she needed to be quiet. She was about to nod and go back to bed when she caught the gleam of the silver guns in the thieves' hands. Yuzu's eyes widened and she turned to Ichigo.

"Yuzu, I need you to be quiet." Ichigo said to his sister while grabbing the small silver figurine and handing it to the first thief. Yuzu connected the dots, and did what any child would do: She shouted for her parents help.

"DADDY! MOMMY!" She shouted. The thieves turned to Ichigo.

"You little shit, stop her!" They said to him. Ichigo tried to explain himself, saying that he couldn't do anything. His parents ran to the daughters' room right when the first thief shot his gun, sending a bullet into young Ichigo's chest. Masaki screamed when she saw Ichigo collapse and the second robber turned to the one that had fired his weapon.

"What the fuck, dude? You just killed a fucking kid!" he said. Isshin ran at top speed towards first thief and buried his fit in the robber's stomach. The criminal fell to his knees and the enraged father pried the gun from his hands. The second thief held his hands up, not wanting to meet the same fate as his partner. Isshin turned over to look at Masaki, who was holding Ichigo's body close to her chest, tears pouring down her face. Isshin started crying as well and collapsed next to his wife. Yuzu and Karin, who were too young to understand what death was, simply watched in confusion.

"Mommy, why are you crying?" Yuzu asked. She was also wondering why her older brother was somehow sleeping with his eyes open, but she didn't want to ask that.

Masaki looked at her daughter. "Your brother is gone, Yuzu. He died." She said tearfully.

The twins looked at each other. "It means that he won't be with us anymore. You know when your father's patients don't move or breathe anymore? It's like that." She said, her voice shaking.

The sisters began to cry now. After a moment to gather himself, Isshin called to police and told them what happened. The officers showed up and took the thieves into custody and took the body of Ichigo Kurosaki to be examined. They explained to the crying Kurosaki family that when the body was done being examined, that they would make arrangements for a funeral.

One week later, the Kurosaki family watched as the coffin holding Ichigo be lowered into the ground. He was put into a suit, and his hands were folded across his chest. Masaki, Yuzu, and Karin were all wearing black dresses and Isshin was wearing a black suit that matched his son's. It was cloudy and grey day, but the sky had yet to release its rain. Ichigo's coffin was then buried, and the family went home, trying to keep straight faces.

It was about an hour after the funeral when Karin tugged on her father's sleeve. "Yes, Karin?" he said to his black-haired daughter.

"Dad, didn't you saw that Ichigo was gone?" She said. Isshin nodded before saying "Yes. I'm sorry but that's just how life is sometimes." He said, tears forming in the corner of his eyes.

"But big brother is right there." Karin said to her father, pointing to the other part of the room. Isshin's eyes widened. He crouched to Karin's eye level and cleared his throat.

"Karin, what does your brother look like right now?" the father said anxiously. Karin looked over to the part of the room before turning back to her dad.

"He looks pretty normal. He has this chain coming out of it his chest though." Isshin paled and then told his daughter that he needed to talk to Masaki and ran up the stairs. He opened the door to the room he and his wife shared. Masaki was crying over a picture of her son on the bed. She looked up at Isshin.

"Karin can see spirits." Isshin said. Masaki looked at her husband.

"What do you mean?" She said while wiping the tears away with the back of her hand.

"She sees Ichigo. It's not a child imaging her brother, she sees him with a Chain of Fate." Isshin said.

Masaki's eyes widened at this revelation and she gulped. "Do you think that Yuzu can see him?" she asked.

Isshin and Masaki went down the stairs to ask Yuzu, and spotted her sitting at the table talking to Karin.

"Yuzu, can you see Ichigo like Karin can?" Masaki asked carefully. Yuzu looked at her mother and bit her lip before answering.

"I can't see big brother like Karin can." Yuzu said. Masaki gave a sigh of relief until Yuzu then said "But I can hear him. I can hear him when he speaks, even though I can't see him. Is that bad?"

Masaki looked at her youngest daughter and gave her a hug. "It's not wrong, Yuzu. You and your sister just have some special gifts."

The day went on like normal, however Karin would occasionally speak to where Ichigo was. Isshin and his wife were getting ready to go to sleep when Isshin broke the silence. "Do you think we should get a Soul Reaper for Ichigo?" he asked. Masaki turned to look at him, glaring slightly.

"No. Ichigo's fine. We'll pray for his spirit and that should put him at ease. He has no reason to become a…" Masaki's voice trailed off. She couldn't bring herself to say that word in regards to her little boy's spirit. "Besides, we can't go to the Soul Society. They wouldn't help us."

"Kisuke would-" Isshin started to say only for Masaki to interrupt him.

"Isshin! I said no! Ichigo is fine, he'll make his way to the Soul Society soon." And with that, the conversation was over.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Also, this is the chapter where the gore starts, so if you don't like that please don't read.**

Two weeks passed, with Karin and Yuzu talking to the spirit of their brother. According to Karin, he would glare at Yuzu sometimes and they both said that he would sound bitter sometimes when talking to her. The family would pray for Ichigo every day and this appeared to make him happy. Karin failed to notice the links disappearing from Ichigo's chain. One day however, as the family left for a picnic Ichigo was left to ponder his situation. He knew he was dead. And in his opinion, it was Yuzu's fault. He told her to be quiet, but she had to shout for their parents. If she hadn't shouted, Ichigo would be alive.

Ichigo looked around. He was so hungry right now. It was the first real sensation he had felt since his death, and he tried to eat something, but his hand passed through the fruit. He would be willing to devour anything right. He wrapped his hands around his stomach. The hunger was bordering on pain. Ichigo's chain only had four or five links left on it. He licked his lips, and felt his anger at his sister grow.

The ghost looked at his chain. Small mouths began to grow over the links and Ichigo screamed. He was scared as the chain began to crumble until it was gone altogether. There was a hole in his chest now, and then Ichigo's world exploded in pain. White began to leak from his eyes to cover his face as the liquid also came out from the hole in his chest and cover his body. He screamed loudly as his body began to twist and change into a hollow's. The process was slow but when it stopped Ichigo felt only one singular sensation. Hunger. It wasn't like before, where it was practically pain, but now it was a singular driving thought. It wouldn't be satisfied with a simple meal, he needed to eat as much as possible. He went up the stairs and hid. The light from the window in the kitchen hurt his sensitive eyes. And this way, his family wouldn't know about his new appearance. Something told the new hollow that his family wouldn't like his new skull mask, his sharp teeth, or his bone white and savage claws.

Isshin smiled as he led his family into the house. It was a great day at the park, and they were able to put all the trouble of this month behind them. Masaki laughed and looked at her daughters. She ran a hand through their hair and told them to get ready for bed. They had eaten lunch at the park, spent the day running around and playing tag. When they felt it was time to have dinner, they went to a rather nice restaurant. Karin went down the stairs and looked at her parents.

"Mom, Dad, I can't find Ichigo!" she said nervously. Isshin was surprised by this. This meant that Ichigo finally made his way to the Soul Society. Isshin smiled and explained that this meant her brother had moved on and was now at peace now. The raven clapped her hands at this and ran up the stairs to tell the good news to her sister. Masaki and Isshin shared a happy smile.

"See? I told you. Ichigo was fine." She said playfully to her husband and went to prepare for bed herself. Isshin went to the kitchen to grab a quick snack, and his eyes caught an apple on the counter. It looked like it had been pushed a couple inches from where he saw it this morning. He shook his head. Years of being a Soul Reaper had made him paranoid it seemed. He sighed in content before walking up the stairs to join his wife.

Hours had passed and the entire Kurosaki family was sleeping soundly. Ichigo crawled out from under Karin's bed and looked down at his other sister. Yuzu was sleeping soundly, unaware to the creature looming above her. Ichigo crawled over her. He opened his mouth to its widest, and then bite down on her throat. His sharp teeth had buried themselves in her neck, and she opened her eyes as the pain shot through her. She couldn't see anything besides the bloodstained teeth around her neck. Ichigo tossed his head back, taking a large chunk of her throat in his mouth. He swallowed it down, before diving down again, consuming more and more of her throat and body, tearing out her vocal cords to prevent her from shouting. He tore open her stomach nearly silently, burying his face in and devouring her organs. His hunger was nowhere near sated however, so he continued his feeding frenzy.

Karin opened her eyes. She was hearing some weird sounds like wet tearing and crunching. She turned her head towards her sister, her eyes adjusting to the darkness, and what she saw almost mad her vomit. A creature was perched at the foot of her sister's bed, shoving parts of her flesh into its mouth with long and pointed claws. Karin slid out of bed trying not to get its attention. It was eating Yuzu as if it was starving, hungrily scarfing down more and more of her. Karin ran out of the room, managing to avoid his attention, as it was too caught up in its gruesome feast to pay her any mind. She ran to her parents and shook them awake.

"Karin, what the matter?" her dad said tiredly, while Masaki began to sit up.

"Dad, there's some _monster_ eating Yuzu! It's white and scary!" She said, tears pouring down her face.

Isshin sat up while Masaki covered her mouth. The parents told Karin to be silent as they walked past Yuzu's room, where the hollow was almost finished with devouring Yuzu. Once they made it out the door, Isshin picked up Karin and began to run to Urarhara's shop with Masaki. He pounded hard on the door with his fist urgently. A tired Kisuke answered the door, who was surprised to see Isshin.

Urahara was about to ask his old friend what brought him by when Isshin said "My son became a hollow." with tears in the corner of his eyes.

The shop keeper became serious immediately. "Has he eaten anyone?" he asked. When his question was met with silence, he knew the Kurosaki family had lost yet another one of their children. "You know what I have to do, right?" he said, grabbing Benihime.

"Just make it quick, please." Isshin responded, not looking at Kisuke. Kisuke nodded, and he then began to make his way to the Kurosaki home.

When Urahara found Ichigo, the hollow was finishing up his meal of Yuzu. Most of her flesh and organs had been devoured, leaving only a slightly bloody skeleton. Ichigo looked up at the stranger and pounced at him, his claws stretched out. Kisuke moved out of the way and slashed at the creature with his own attack. It scratched his thick white skeletal armor, but only left a shallow cut. Kisuke had to take a moment to study the hollow to see if he could find any weaknesses in his defense.

Ichigo's hollow form was larger than he was in life with him now being five feet tall. His body was covered in white armor, with black and red marks on his face and chest. He had small horns protruding from his head, curving like a bull's. Bloodstained long claws weren't the only weapon his arms had, with a long curving spike coming out of his elbow joints. He had a line of small spikes coming out of his spine and a thick black tail that ended in a dangerous and sharp point. The hollow was clearly built for battle and causing damage.

Urahara stepped back as the hollow leaped at him once more, managing to get a small scratch on him. Kisuke ran down the stairs, Ichigo chasing after him. The shop keeper wanted to get the deceased spirit to follow after him outside, where it would be easier to fight him. Once outside, he turned to Ichigo who was opening his mouth. He was about to charge at him, when a small ball of red energy began to form in the hollow's mouth. It slowly increased in size until it fired at Kisuke.

"Chikasumi no Tate!" Kisuke shouted, creating a shield in front of him to block the Cero. Kisuke lowered the shield, eyes wide. He was genuinely that a spirit that had been a hollow for less than 24 hours had managed to use his Cero. The hollow raised its claws and ran at him, slicing down. Kisuke quickly stepped aside and as Ichigo went past him, Urahara sliced his sword downward. He was trying to cut the back of the hollow's head and kill him, but instead the attack went down the left side of his back. Ichigo let loose a cry of pain as it went past his thick skin. But was most disturbing was the cry wasn't a roar of a hollow, but rather the scream of a child.

"Ichigo!" Karin shouted upon hearing it. While it was sort of far away, she managed to hear her brother. Ichigo's head snapped in the direction of hearing Karin's voice. He snaked his tongue out and licked his bloodstained teeth before running towards where he heard his sister's voice. He jumped over buildings, with Kisuke following closely after him.

"Nake, Benihime!" the blond shouted. Ichigo managed to dodge the majority of the attacks, some of them grazing his side. He jumped down and saw his family waiting outside of the shop. Masaki and Isshin were looking around, knowing that their son was around somewhere but unable to see where. Karin however was staring ahead where the thing her brother had become was. He prowled towards her. The hunger was back, and he knew that devouring her would get rid of it for a small while.

Karin was unable to move out of fear as the hollow came closer, until it was standing in front of her. She heard it whisper the word "Hungry" before raising its talons. As it brought them down, she felt someone pull her back. The claws still scratched her, leaving deep wounds on her face, but they weren't fatal. Urahara pointed his blade at Ichigo while holding Karin to his chest.

"You won't find a meal here, hollow." He said. Ichigo wobbled on his feet slightly, the blood loss from his wound on his back getting to him. A large white portal appeared besides him, and he crawled through it quickly, his instincts telling him that he would be safe where it took him. Urahara swore as the hollow got away. He turned to the parents and explained what happened as he brought Karin into his store to give her treatment for the scratches.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. This chapter is kinda short, but I will make up for it with the next chapter.**

Ichigo looked around at his new surroundings. Sand was around him as far as the eye could see and strange creatures were spread out throughout the area. They came in all shapes, but the majority of them had main colors of black and white. Ichigo began to walk forward, his curiosity for this place growing by the minute. Out of nowhere a large centipede-like hollow charged into his side, sending him flying. Ichigo pulled himself up, sand getting into his wound and causing him to hiss in pain. The centipede ran over to him, opening its maw to devour him. Ichigo jumped over it, his small frame allowing him to out-maneuver the larger hollow. He slashed his claws down, penetrating the thick armor covering the centipede. Blood flew out of the scrapes and stained the sand around it. He landed on the back of his opponent and continued to scratch down at armor, his black tail that was now sporting sharp spines came down and helped the destruction of the centipede hollow. The centipede tried to buck Ichigo off but the smaller hollow was remaining attached and continued his onslaught until the centipede collapsed. Ichigo began to shove portions of the hollow in his mouth, happily devouring him. He continued to eat until there was nothing left, giving happy noises as he ate.

He yawned once he was finished. He knew that sleeping on the ground alone would be dangerous, so he used his claws to dig a shallow hole into the sand and used his tail (which was no longer sporting the spikes it did in battle against the hollow) to push the sand back over him, hiding him from sight as he slept. Ichigo sighed in content before he fell asleep. He felt that he would thrive here.

Months passed, and Ichigo did thrive. He fought and devoured many hollows, occasionally having to abandon a possible meal when he got too many wounds. Ichigo learned how to dig and maneuver through the sand like a master. The small hollow tried to make allies, but then the insatiable hunger would return quickly and he would eat them. It was lonely existence, but it suited him just fine. He watched new hollows come into this place and watched them die. He was sometimes the cause of these new hollows' deaths. It was truly survival of the fittest in this place, and he was determined to survive.

He watched three people come into this place. He was tempted to go attack these outsiders but when some other hollow tried it was obliterated. Ichigo left these strangers to their devices and continued his life of devouring, sleeping, and burrowing through the sands. He was shocked when the strangers built a large building, impossibly big. Ichigo watched as they made a large dome around the place, bathing the area around it in light. He watched them bring in hollows and change them. Ichigo watched these humanoid hollows fight each other, wearing only partial masks.

He would have been more worried about this, but to him it was a trivial matter. All he wanted to do was his usual routine, and the new sun or these powerful strangers didn't hinder that, so he simply let it be.


	4. Chapter 4

Ichigo was sleeping under the sand when he felt the vibrations of people walking above him. They smelled like hollows, yet they walked and talked like humans. These were probably the new hybrids he had seen walking around. He had to be cautious, seeing how ruthless and lethal they were. He had come this far and the smaller hollow wanted to continue his existence, no matter how bloody and chaotic it was. He enjoyed fighting, enjoyed consuming, and enjoyed the thrill. Ichigo felt the spiritual pressure they were giving off and instinctively wanted to set his off in an intimidation move, but forced himself to remain down. That is, until he felt the hunger again. He had eaten a rather large and powerful earlier, but as usual, his meal didn't satisfy for long. He curled up, and shot out of the sand upwards, latching onto the arm of one of the arrancars. He got the element of the surprise, and buried his teeth into the flesh before he got flung away, taking the bit of meat with him and gulping it down greedily.

He got on all fours as he studied his opponents. There were five of them, coming in all sorts of shapes. There was a lanky man with long black hair, a green haired woman with a skull mask on top of her head, a giant of a man that Ichigo took a bite out of, a blue haired man with a terrifying grin and skull jaw on the right side of his face, and an incredibly pale man with green tear streaks and a half of a skeletal helmet.

"Is that him?" The green haired woman said. Ichigo's gaze turned to her. She seemed kind, and she reminded him of his mother in a way.

The pale man nodded, and she came at him. She shot an arm out and struck Ichigo's arm. Ichigo's child-like mind identified this as a really hard game of tag. After all, she didn't have any claws, so how would she be attacking him? Ichigo pranced back and shot his own arm out to one of the others, scratching them and his mind making them "it". This process went on for awhile, Ichigo avoiding whoever he thought was it and scratching whoever was closest to him in an attempt to tag them as it. The entire time, he was laughing.

"Does he think this is a fucking game?" the lanky man asked, the constant laughing getting on his nerves.

"Actually Nnoitra, I think he might." The green haired woman said. Nnoitra turned to her, glaring slightly.

"Nel, what does that mean?" Nnoitra said to her.

"He could be spirit that died young. There's a chance he thinks we're playing tag, with us darting at him and attempting to land a hit on him. His mind probably sees this as a brutal game, with us using swords and him using claws." Nel said.

Ichigo waited for the person that was "it" to go at someone. His tail was going side to side like a happy dog's.

"Who did he scratch last?" Nel asked them all, wanting to know who Ichigo considered it.

"This is foolish." Ulquiorra said, bringing his own sword out. Nel turned to him, confused.

"We won't get anywhere with us indulging in his childish antics." He said emotionlessly. He charged at Ichigo, who jumped above him. He swiped his sword where he predicted the hollow would land, and managed to create a large gash on the hollow's chest. Ichigo grabbed at in. He glared at the arrancar and realized that this was not a simple game. He let his reiatsu flare out and gave a cackle when Ulquiorra stumbled slightly from the pressure. Ulquiorra steeled himself and let his own reiatsu clash against Ichigo's. Ichigo began to charge at Ulquiorra, slashing out with his claws.

Ulquiorra blocked the attack, much to the anger of the hollow. Ichigo's tail quickly shot out and knocked Ulquiorra off his feet. Ulquiorra was surprised by this, which allowed Ichigo to land a hit on him much to the hollow's delight. The espada kicked Ichigo in the chest, sending him flying into the sand. The raven stood up and looked at the hollow with vacant eyes.

"Impressive. But that will be last hit you'll get." He said while Ichigo pulled himself up. He charged at Ulquiorra, his head low, hoping to get him with one of his horns. Ulquiorra waited until Ichigo was close, then grabbed one of the horns and tossed him harshly into the sand. The arrancar sonidoed next to Ichigo and stomped a foot down on the back of his head. The hollow gave a weak cry, trying to give Ulquiorra a weak scratch. The raven stomped his foot down once more which knocked out his opponent. He looked at the others, who had been watching with wide eyes.

"We did what Aizen told us to do." Ulquiorra said. He slung Ichigo over his shoulder and began to walk back to Las Noches. The other followed him.

"Why don't we just Sonido back?" Grimmjow asked impatiently, keeping his hands in his pockets and a sneer on his face.

"Chances are if we do that, we'll most likely wake him up. If he wakes up, he'll be incredibly enraged and attack us. We would have to fight him once more and Aizen made it clear he wanted him with minimal injuries." Ulquiorra said. They continued to walk at the same pace for the most part. Nnoitra picked up his speed and purposely bumped his shoulder harshly into Nel's. She almost fell and gave Nnoitra a dirty look.

"What? I'm just walking here." Nnoitra said, looking over his shoulder at her with a cocky smirk. She grit her teeth, her reiatsu rising slowly unintentionally. Nnoitra let his flare out in retaliation, an attempt to intimidate his rival. Ichigo's eyes fluttered open beneath his mask, hidden by the orange hair that had fallen in his face. He was awoken by the spiritual pressure coming off of the two arrancars. The hollow remembered what had happened, and guessed the one holding him was the pale one that knocked his out. He silently opened his mouth and rolled his arms slightly. No one noticed his body's movements, thankfully. He forced the spikes on his elbows out, embedding them in Ulquiorra's shoulder and took a large bite out of his back. Ulquiorra gave a cry of pain, instinctively throwing the hollow away from him. As he did so, Ichigo's spike tore away a bit of flesh from the arm. Ichigo landed in the sand on all fours. He began to bug a hole in the sand, hoping to get under the sands and burrow away from these people until he had the strength to face them. He almost got away with it until he felt a hand on his tail and pull him out of his hole by it. Ulquiorra slammed him into the ground before stamping on his stomach.

Ichigo roared, and began to fire his Cero. Ulquiorra quickly moved out of the way, giving Ichigo a chance to get up and he began to run away. Ulquiorra put a hand on his sword and looked back at his companions.

"Keep back." He commanded. He put a hand on his sword and it.

"Enclose, Murcielago." Ulquiorra said. His release form came out, and he stretched out the large black wings protruding from his back. He flew up, quickly spotting Ichigo. Ulquiorra flew towards him, swiping his claws down at him. Ichigo pressed his body close down to the sand, the sharp talons just barely missing him. He crouched and jumped at Ulquiorra, who dodged out of the way. As he came down from the air Ichigo attempted to embed one of his spikes into Ulquiorra's side, only for his opponent to grab the spike and slam him into one of the hard bone white trees. Ulquiorra pressed a hand against Ichigo's throat and began to squeeze harshly.

"You will submit, you will follow me without incident, and you will not attack me. If you do not do this, I will kill you here and now. Do you understand?" he said monotonously. Ichigo panted, his mind racing with thoughts of how to defeat Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra squeezed harder and said "Make your decision now. I'm getting impatient."

Ichigo let his arms fall to his side, the sharp spikes going back into his arms. Ulquiorra let him go. "I see you've made your choice. Know that if you break the deal and attack me or my companions, I will not hesitate to execute you." He said. He let Ichigo go and sealed his powers back into his sword, turning back into his normal form. Ichigo followed after him when he began to walk back to his group. The others eyed him warily, slightly afraid he would attack one of them.

"He knows not to attack us now. If he does, do not hesitate to release and kill him." Ulquiorra said as they began to walk back to Las Noches. Ichigo followed behind, keeping his eyes down. He spotted a large hollow in the background and was tempted to run after it for a meal but held back. Soon, they found themselves walking through the front gate of the incredibly large building. Ichigo looked around. There was a large blue sky above them, giving the illusion of sunlight.

The arrancars all fell to their knees suddenly, bowing to the person in front of them. "Is that him?" the person said. "Yes, Aizen-sama." Ulquiorra said.

"Good. Ulquiorra, I trust you know where to bring him?" Aizen said. Ulquiorra gave a nod. He turned back to Ichigo who began to follow him. He was brought to a large dark room and told to stay in place. The others gathered behind Aizen, who was holding a small black ball.

Ichigo fell to his knees, a pain overwhelming his body. He roared loudly, his voice changing along with his body. He shrunk as his white armor began to recede. The most painful part for him was his mask being removed, a small portion of it remaining on his face. He clutched desperately at what remained of his white body, only for it to crumble or tear away. When the process was over, everyone was surprised to find that where an intimidating and deadly hollow was once was now a crying child that couldn't be older than seven. He looked up at them with confused teary brown eyes.

"Why?" he said, his voice filled with sadness. He didn't want to be back into this form, the weak and helpless one.

Aizen gave a fatherly smile. "We changed you so you could get stronger. Can you tell me your name?" he asked kindly, while Gin put an oversized jacket on the child so he could have some modesty.

"I-Ichigo Kurosaki." He stuttered out. "Well Ichigo, you're an arrancar now." Aizen said. He proceeded to explain what that meant, explaining to the child. When he was done he turned back to his espadas.

"I need someone to watch over Ichigo. Which one of you convinced him to come here?" He asked to them. Ulquiorra raised his hand keeping his eyes on the small orangette. "Good. Ulquiorra, you'll be in charge of him. You'll train him. When we have all the preparations to properly take on the Soul Society finished, we'll give him his rank."

"I understand, my lord." Ulquiorra said.

"You're putting Mister Bat in charge of me?" Ichigo said innocently.

"Why did you call me that?" The espada said while walking over to the child.

"Well, when you flew after me, you grew wings. They looked like bat wings and since you flew like a bat, that means you're part bat. So I'm calling you Mr. Bat!" Ichigo said. Ulquiorra gave a small sigh, barely noticeable and guided the child out of the large dark room. Aizen smiled as they left. Ichigo, while having died as a child, would most likely continue to grow and his strength along with it. The boy may even grow up to be the new Zero espada.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer/Author's notes: I don't own Bleach. At all. Now then, this is an unfortunately short chapter. I wanted to postpone posting this until I had more to go on but I couldn't think of anything else for this chapter thanks to Writer's block. That being said, the next chapter will be rather large to make up for this.**

"Mister Bat!" Ichigo shouted next to Ulquiorra's ear. The espada naturally woke up and turned to look at the child with emotionless eyes.

"Why on earth did you do that?" He said. "I was bored." was the reply that Ulquiorra got.

"Listen to me Ichigo. There are certain rules you must abide by whilst I am in charge of you. Number one, you must be respectful to me. This means do not talk back to my orders, will not interrupt me, and leave me to do my tasks. Rule two, you will wake up when I tell you to. In the event you are awake before me you will not wake me up unless is an emergency. An emergency would constitute as an intruder not as you being bored." Ulquiorra stated while getting dressed.

"Final rule, you will not address me as 'Mister Bat' again. My name is Ulquiorra and you will call me that, not a childish nickname." Ulquiorra finished saying. Ichigo regarded him with curious eyes before nodding.

"I can follow most of those rules, but I'm still calling you Mr. Bat." He said. Ulquiorra crouched to Ichigo's level and was about to back hand him for his insolence when he heard a knock on his door. He got up and answered it. Szayelaporra was waiting there, holding a black medical bag.

"What do you want?" Ulquiorra said. Szayel smiled while pushing up his glasses.

"Aizen ordered that I do an examination of the boy. That won't be a problem, will it?" Szayel asked mockingly. Ulquiorra merely stepped aside and let the former espada into his room. Ichigo looked at the stranger with curious eyes. Szayel smiled at him and Ichigo gave a small frown.

"If you could please sit on the bed, I would greatly appreciate it." Szayel said. Ichigo hesitantly did as he asked, getting a strange vibe from this arrancar. Szayel rolled up Ichigo's sleeve and pulled out a syringe. He slid the sharp needle that was specially designed to pierce the hierro of an arrancar and took a sample of the blood. Ichigo flinched but otherwise kept still for the scientist. Szayel smiled at the kid, who shivered slightly. He did a few more tests and measured the child, making sure not to injure Ichigo under Aizen's orders. He made sure Ichigo's mask fragments, two crescent shapes curving upwards under his eyes, weren't blocking Ichigo's vision. After he was sure that the boy was in order, he stood up and turned to Ulquiorra, informing him that he was finished with the testing.

The scientist was about to leave but he paused and turned to Ulquiorra. "Aizen wants Ichigo to be in top condition. I would recommend not hitting him then. It may make Aizen mad, and we don't want that." He said with a snicker. Ulquiorra regarded him coldly as he left and turned to the orangette who was still sitting on the bed.

"Who was that?" he asked timidly. "His name is Szayelaporra Granz. He's a scientist that works for Lord Aizen." Ulquiorra replied. "W-will I have to see him again?" the child asked. Ulquiorra nodded, much to the child's fear. "Now come along." Ulquiorra said while walking to the door.

"Where are we going?" Ichigo said, hopping of the bed and following the elder.

"I'm taking you to train. Aizen put me in charge of you and I refuse to let you lie around all day becoming useless. You're free time will be dedicated to growing stronger." Ulquiorra said. Ichigo wanted to protest, but he remembered how ruthlessly he had threatened to take Ichigo's life, so he simply kept silent.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer/Author's notes: I don't own Bleach. That being said, this chapter has some gore and the torture of a minor. You have been warned.** Ichigo was roused from his sleep by a knocking on Ulquiorra's door. Ulquiorra at first thought it was the younger arrancar making a racket but when he realized it was someone knocking, he stopped his scolding and opened the door. To his slight surprise, it was Szayel.

"Why are you here? " Ulquiorra asked as Ichigo rubbed his tired eyes. "Sorry, but Lord Aizen has given me permission to run some more tests on the boy." Szayel said with a glint of malicious intent in his voice.

"So soon? You were just here yesterday." Ulquiorra said. Szayel grinned at this. "I'm aware. I informed him of my findings yesterday, and he wishes for a couple of experiments to be run on the boy. I can take you to Aizen to verify this." The pinkette said. Ulquiorra nodded at this, grabbing Ichigo and bringing him along until Ichigo got the hint and walked behind them. Ichigo began to look around the large halls, marveling at their size. He bumped into the back of Ulquiorra, who had stopped walking when he reached the center of Aizen's throne room.

"Sir, is it true that you want Szayel to run more tests on Ichigo?" Ulquiorra asked carefully, not wanting to upset Aizen. Aizen smiled before answering. "Yes. He told me of some ideas he has that require Ichigo. This isn't a problem is it Ulquiorra?" Ulquiorra replied with "Of course not, sir. I just wanted to make sure that Szayel was telling the truth."

With that matter settled, Szayel turned to Ichigo. "I need you to come with me." Ichigo whimpered but followed after him. "Why are you so nervous around me?" Szayel asked as they walked to his lab. Ichigo gulped before he answered. "I-I'm sorry, mister. But I don't know."

Szayel gave Ichigo a falsely kind smile before he opened the door to his lab. "Well that's no reason to be wary." He said as he led the child into the dark room. He turned the light on with a smile. The child's eyes widened as he looked around Szayel's laboratory. There were books neatly organized on bookshelves and formulas scribbled on pieces of paper all around the room. But what caught his attention was the surgical equipment and table in the center of the large room. Szayel smiled and guided Ichigo to the table and gestured for him to lie down. Ichigo shivered but did so. Szayel grinned with a glint in his eyes before strapping Ichigo to the table with his arms at his side.

Szayel circled around the table with a predatory glint in his eyes. "You see, Ichigo, I was honest about being wary around people for the sake of being wary. However, this-" he said while putting his hand on one of the mask fragments under Ichigo's eyes. "Is why you should fear me!" Szayel shouted insanely as he gripped the skull shard and tore it away from Ichigo's face. Ichigo gave a large cry of pain, tears pouring from his eyes and mixing with blood under his right eye, the saltwater stinging it even more. Szayel grabbed the other shard and ripped it away as well, ignoring the younger arrancar's pleading.

Szayel grabbed a wet cloth and wiped the blood off of his hands. He watched the child's regeneration kick in and heal the cuts. Szayel grabbed a syringe and pushed the needle into Ichigo's cheek where the recently healed over injuries were. He pushed down the plunger before throwing the syringe away.

Ichigo weakly muttered something. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. Can you repeat that?" Szayel said in a fake caring tone.

"Why?" Ichigo said, more tears pouring down his face. "I'm glad you asked! You see Ichigo, you died before you're body reached its peak of spiritual strength. Normally when this happens, you would move onto the Soul Society. However, you became a hollow instead and then became an arrancar! Due to you not reaching your full power yet, that means your spiritual energy is much more flexible, more adaptable, and will most likely grow over the years. This means that I can perform experiments on you that I can't on the others!" Szayel said.

"This experiment is seeing if you can control how your mask regenerates. The chemicals I injected you with should make your mask fragment reform. I want to see if it's possible for you, with your _unique_ reiatsu to control how it reforms." Szayel explained gleefully. Ichigo sniffled at this. Szayel anxiously waited a couple of minutes when Ichigo began to scream in pain. Szayel grinned and put his mouth over Ichigo's mouth to silence the screams.

"Try to regenerate the skull shard on your forehead. Then you'll be able to leave!" Szayel explained. Much to the scientist's disappointment, the mask fragments pierced through the skin under Ichigo's eyes, creating replicas of his original ones. Szayel snarled before calming himself down. "No problem, we can always try again. Now then, just to make this clear, I want the mask fragment to cover your forehead when they regenerate."

Right before Szayel tore off the skull pieces Ichigo asked "How many times do we have to do this?" Szayel smiled sadistically before replying. "As many times as it takes!" Without hesitation, Szayel tore the mask pieces off. Ichigo gave another cry of pain, his regeneration ability healing the scratches and Szayel injecting him with the chemicals. This process went on for some time, repeated almost twenty times. Szayel would take a couple moments to clean up the blood off of the child's face but otherwise it was nonstop. Ichigo's voice had long since gone hoarse. He panted in pain, wanting this nightmare to stop.

Without hesitation, Szayel grabbed the mask pieces again, tearing them off. Ichigo arched his back and tried to hide his face from Szayel before he could inject the chemicals once more, when he felt a horrible burning sensation in his forehead. His mouth opened in a silent scream as something pierced through his forehead. Szayel pulled back with a smile on his face, gleefully clapping his hands.

"Excellent!" He said. Ichigo fell back onto the table, panting harshly. Szayel walked over, an empty syringe in his hands and slid it in the crook of Ichigo's elbow. Ichigo was so exhausted that he barely felt the needle in his skin. Szayel smiled at the blood sample and put a small portion of it on a microscope slide. The scientist slid it under the microscope and smiled at the sample. He grinned at the almost passed out boy.

"It seems that I injected you with the formula so many times that it has bonded with your blood. This means that if I wanted to do this to you again, I wouldn't even need to inject you with it!" the pinkette said happily while unstrapping the boy from the table. Ichigo sat up and looked at Szayel with confusion and horror clearly written on his face. "A-again?" he asked. Szayel smiled down at him.

"Yes, again. I need to make sure this isn't a fluke, and then I need to see if I can get you to change your mask without tearing it off. Plus, there are so many experiments I need to test out after that! But don't worry, we're done for the day." He said while guiding Ichigo out the room. Ichigo whimpered but let the elder lead him out. As Szayel walked back to Ulquiorra's room, he prattled on about how this was astounding. Ichigo tuned him out, feeling uncomfortable with the skull fragment on his forehead. He knocked on Ulquiorra's door, who opened it and took back Ichigo.

As the scientist left, Ulquiorra noticed the different placing of Ichigo's mask and the blood smeared along his face. "What happened?" He asked. Ichigo looked up at Ulquiorra, who still held an emotionless expression. The raven probably wouldn't care about the pain he just went through and if he did, Szayel would probably be mad about Ichigo telling someone about the experimentation.

"I learned about why I have to fear Szayel." Ichigo finally answered. Ulquiorra found this answer strange, but if the child didn't want to tell him what happened, he didn't have to.


	7. Chapter 7

p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-weight: bold; font-size: 11.0000pt; font-family: 'Calibri';"Disclaimer/Author/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-weight: bold; font-size: 11.0000pt; font-family: 'Calibri';"'s notes: I don't own Bleach or the characters within. That being said, enjoy this chapter./span/p  
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;" /p  
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-size: 11.0000pt; font-family: 'Calibri';"Ichigo sighed as he was once more led to Szayel's lab. Two weeks had passed since the horrible mask ripping incident and yesterday he had mastered making his mask switch without having it torn off. It felt strange, but he was glad to not have practice the mask exercises anymore. He thought that once he mastered the mask changing task he'd have the day off, but Szayel still knocked on Ulquiorra's door that morning. He looked up to the tall scientist. /span/p  
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;" /p  
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-size: 11.0000pt; font-family: 'Calibri';""Well I ever get a day off?" he asked. Szayel looked down at him and seemed to think for a moment before smiling. "Tell you what, for every three successful experiment completed, /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-size: 11.0000pt; font-family: 'Calibri';"I/spanspan style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-size: 11.0000pt; font-family: 'Calibri';"'ll give you the next week off." Ichigo perked up at this, a slight smile forming on his face. He was lead into the familiar lab, but this time was told to lie down face down on the table. He did so with slight hesitation. The familiar bindings came around his wrists and ankles, causing him to wince a little bit. Szayel walked away from the child and grabbed a large amount of syringes. He set them on the silver table and then lifted up the back of Ichigo's shirt. Ichigo was about to ask Szayel what he was doing when he felt a needle plunge into the middle of his back. He shouted and unintentionally arched his back downward to get away from the pain, to no avail. Szayel pulled the now empty syringe out of the boy and tossed it into the trash./span/p  
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-size: 11.0000pt; font-family: 'Calibri';""This mixture will theoretically make you more flexible and decrease the damage you get from spinal injuries." the pinkette said. He grabbed the second syringe and this time slid the needle between the child's shoulder blades, an inch above his hollow hole. Ichigo bit his lip as not to scream but still, he unintentionally arched his back away. Szayel took out the needle and once more grabbed another one. He began to hum a song to himself as this one was injected into the base of Ichigo's spine. Szayel clapped his hands as he threw the last one away and said "You're doing really well Ichigo! Barely any tears~. But i need you to stay completely still for this one," he said as he pressed the needle against the back of Ichigo's neck. "Otherwise there's a chance I might accidentally paralyze you." /span/p  
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-size: 11.0000pt; font-family: 'Calibri';"Szayel slid the needle in excruciatingly slowly. It was torment for Ichigo, who went against his instinct of moving away from the pain. Finally, the liquid was injected and the needle taken out. Ichigo felt tears start to fall from his eyes slowly. Szayel patted Ichigo on the head and smiled at him. "Very good~ Now, i need you to stay here for about an hour while the formula mixes with your blood." Ichigo sniffled but figured this was a good time to take a nap. All to soon he was waken up by Szayel shoving the needle in his arm and taking some of his blood. Szayel made sure he had enough and then unlocked Ichigo from his bindings. Ichigo turned around and began to walk back to his and Ulquiorra's room. The fourth espada was sitting on his bed reading a book./span/p  
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-size: 11.0000pt; font-family: 'Calibri';""Mister Bat!" Ichigo said happily. Ulquiorra looked up at him and marked his page. "There you are. I was under the impression that Szayel would keep you in his lab all day. But since you are here, we will do training." Ichigo's smile quickly turned to a frown. He followed after Ulquiorra however. He was led to the white sands outside, the artificial sky above them shining on them. Ulquiorra looked at the child. "You make the first move." Ichigo looked up at him and with slight hesitation ran at him. Ulquiorra grabbed his arm and tossed him over his shoulder, causing him to hit the sand. Ulquiorra then sonido'd over to the child and pressed a foot on his back while grabbing Ichigo's wrists and wrenching them upwards. He expected Ichigo to submit, not to act as if he wasn't affected by this. He pulled them up higher./span/p  
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-size: 11.0000pt; font-family: 'Calibri';""Why aren't you in pain Ichigo?" Ichigo looked up at Ulquiorra and smiled. "You can thank Szayel for this." He said. Ulquiorra was busy processing this and didn't expect Ichigo to grab onto the fabric of Ulquiorra's shirt and tug harshly, causing Ichigo to be able to pull his lower body out from Ulquiorra. He used the momentum to carry him into the air and knock Ulquiorra to the ground. He landed on Ulquiorra's chest and smiled down at him. /span/p  
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="mso-spacerun: 'yes'; font-size: 11.0000pt; font-family: 'Calibri';""Does this mean I win the fight?" he said. Ulquiorra sighed while standing up, causing Ichigo to fall onto the sand. "I guess so. Don't let it go to your head."the fourth said while walking away. Ichigo gave a happy hum and began to skip after him, beaming the entire time./span/p 


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer/Author's notes: Don't own Bleach. Anyway, I apologize for how long it took to make and post this chapter, I've had an extremely bad case of writer's block. Hopefully the next chapter will take less time to make. But either way, have fun with this chapter.**

Kindness was not a common thing in Los Noches. You were expected to show no sympathy and simply to fight. The slightest sign of disrespect wasn't forgiven, it was cause for immediate battle. Ichigo had learned this rather quickly. Snorting at Szayel meant more brutal experimentation for the next weeks. Laughing at something Gin said that was not meant to be funny caused hard labor to be thrust upon the child. So it was to Ichigo's great surprise that when he accidentaly bumped into the green haired female arrancar that he wasn't immediately slapped. In fact, she was the one that looked sorry. She helped the child to his feet and introduced herself as Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, insisting to be called Nel. Just as Ichigo was about to thank her, he saw an angry Szayel storming towards him.

"Where were you? You are running incredibly late." he hissed. Ichigo winced before attempting to explain himself, about to say that Ulquiorra demanded an extra-long training session when Nel interrupted. "I was about to bring Ichigo to Aizen. I'm interested in training him once a week." she said. Ichigo's eyes widened. Szayel looked surprised as well but did his best to mask it. "That's... a bit of an inconvenience Nel. Surely you know this?" the scientist's words were measured but did nothing to hide the fact that he was enraged.

"Of course. But having Ichigo once a week will strengthen him further, which is what Aizen clearly wants." Nel said. Szayel clenched his fists at his side but knew better than to insult her, seeing how she was the third ranked espada. "Fine." he hissed out and turned back to his lab. Ichigo looked up at Nel, confusion written clearly in his eyes. "D-do you mean it?" Ichigo said. She smiled at him and ruffled his orange hair. "Of course." she said. Ichigo's face lit up at this and he happily followed after her to Aizen. The leader of the Arrancars appeared surprised by this but he approved of Nel's request. Nel then took Ichigo to her room, where he looked around confused. "I thought you were going to train me." the orange haired child said. Nel smiled and patted the space next to her on her bed. He hesitantly did so. "Ichigo, I am going to train you. But not in fighting." Ichigo frowned in confusion. "What else can you train me in?" he said. Nel smiled at this before speaking. "I'm going to train you how to feel."

"Feel what?" Ichigo said. "Ichigo, when was the last time you laughed with genuine happiness?" Ichigo thought for a moment. "When I beat Mister Bat in a sparing match last week." he said. Nel's eyes filled with a sadness when she heard this. "Ichigo, I don't want you to end up like the other bloodthirsty arrancars. They're smiling, but only because they know that they'll be able to fight someone pretty soon." Ichigo thought for a moment before Nel spoke. "Don't worry Ichigo, you won't be like them. I'll make sure of that." she said while ruffling his hair. "Now then, let's begin." she said.

Meanwhile, Szayel was fuming in his lab. How dare Nel take Ichigo to train when she knew that he had experiments for him! He snarled and swept a hand angrily, causing various concoctions to fall to the floor, the glass beakers breaking. No matter, he could always recreate the mixtures. He still fumed and raged, knowing no matter how many times he would ask Aizen that the leader would still side with Nelliel. Szayel was so angry he never noticed Nnoitra walking into his lab. The eighth espada spoke, catching the scientist off guard. "I need you for something." he said. Szayel turned to him, anger on his face. "What?" he hissed out. He had no time for ridiculous requests. Nnoitra smiled as he said the next part. "I want you to help me take down Nelliel." Szayel paused before a twisted grin came upon his face. "What do you need?" he said.

Ichigo smiled as he made his way to Nel's room. He knocked and waited patiently for her to open the door and beamed up at her when she did so. She lead him in and began to speak about how an arrancar needed to be truly merciful if they really wanted to exist. "Show mercy. You don't have to kill a weaker opponent. Just incapacitate them Ichi. You don't need to be a beast like-" she stopped mid-sentence. "Like who?" Ichigo asked. Nel sighed before going on. "I was going to say Nnoitra. He's an espada, the eighth at this time. He doesn't hesitate to kill his opponents ever, even if killing them almost crosses the line of going against Aizen's order. He's a beast." she said while shaking her head. She took a sip of tea from a cup resting on a table. Nel smiled at the child and said "But don't worry. Aizen will have no trouble dealing with him should he ever decide to try to take over." Ichigo thought for a moment before smiling up at Nel. "Right!" She chuckled at his antics and ruffled his hair with a grin on her face before going on about the need to have mercy, with Ichigo happily listening in one of the only safe places to him in Aizen's castle.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach. Now that that's out of the way, there will be gore in this. And by gore, I mean Nnoitra being a bloodthirsty asshole. Also, crying Ichi.**

Ichigo smiled as he made his way to Nel's room. She really was teaching him a lot, having him practice fighting moves that would incapacitate an opponent rather than kill them on her Fraccion. Ulquiorra didn't approve of her teaching him mercy but did however approve of him learning new moves. And Ichigo no longer had to fear the experiments Szayel would put him through, seeing how Nel specifically asked Szayel to make sure Ichigo could fight the next day. Ichigo was deep in thought and bumped into an arrancar. Ichigo's eyes widened in fear when he saw it was Szayel. But rather than get enraged, a look of happiness crossed Szayel's face. "There you are Ichigo! I've been looking for you!" he said, helping Ichigo to his feet. Ichigo was puzzled by the kindness but even more so when Szayel handed him a white metal box.

"What's this?" he said, staring at it. Szayel averted his eyes with a slight blush on his face. "A present for Nelliel. This may sound silly but... I may have a crush on her." he said. Ichigo's eyes widened with surprise clearly evident in them. "Really?" "Yes." Szayel said with a somber nod. "I was hoping to give this to her but I can't since she doesn't trust me. I was hoping you could do it..." Ichigo smiled and nodded, his child-like innocence shining through. Szayel smiled and patted the boy on the head. Ichigo hummed and continued on his way to Nel's room. As Ichigo walked, he didn't notice a crazed grin coming onto Szayel's face nor did he notice the scientist saying "My my, I really should be an actor." under his breath. Ichigo knocked on Nel's door, and frowned when he didn't get a response. Rather than wait, the child looked down the hall on both sides and turned the knob, happy and surprised to see it was unlocked. He walked in and placed the white box on a dresser. Ichigo was about to sit down on a bed when he heard a strange shuttering noise. He turned back and saw a small nozzle coming out of the box. The child crouched down until it was at eye level. A spray of pink mist came out of it and the orange haired child's eyes glazed over. He walked out the door, shutting it behind him and went to the room he shared with Ulquiorra. The espada was surprised but didn't question it, judging that the child was sick based on his facial expression. Meanwhile, Nnoitra smiled at Szayel. "Did the kid leave?" he said. Szayel nodded and smirked. "All you have to do is go to her room. The device should be giving off a hologram of Ichigo to her fraccion." Nnoitra chuckled and began the trek to Nel's room, a grin on his face. Sure enough, the door was unlocked and Nelliel's precious fraccion were talking to a fake Ichigo.

"Am I interrupting?" he drawled out. The two lower arrancars turned, but it was too late. Swinging his weapon at them, he knocked both Dondochakka and Pesche to the ground. They looked at "Ichigo". "You need to run!" Pesche shouted. Ichigo smiled at them and his form flickered before disappearing all together. Their eyes widened but was cut short when Nnoitra stomped on Pesche's chest. Nnoitra laughed and grinned at him. "Now, I was trying to decide how to get Nel really riled up. I can't hurt the brat since Aizen would kill me for it, but her fraccion? Now that's perfectly fine." he said. With that, he dug one end of his blade under Pesche's mask, who was yelling in pain. With an insane laugh, he wretched his scythe-like weapon upward, causing a large portion of Pesche's mask to tear. Pesche screaming and Nnoitra dug his fingers under the remaining portion, tearing the rest off. Pesche almost passed out from the pain as his blood poured from his face. Dondochakka watched with horror. "Don't worry. You're next." Nnoitra said as he repeated the process with Nel's other fraccion.

Nnoitra looked around the bloodstained room and the fraccion who were panting with pain. Nnoitra smiled and spoke into his collar, where a small microphone was. "She on her way here?" he said, giggling slightly. "Yes. The device should be able to hide the fraccion and bloodstains when she comes in." Nnoitra ceased talking to Szayel and kicked her fraccion in the stomach, sending them across the room. He was about to continue to attack them to placate his boredom when he heard her footsteps coming. He stood up and heaved his weapon onto his shoulders. Nel opened the door and was surprised but hid it well. "Looking for something?" he drawled out with a grin.

Ichigo woke up from his nap, rubbing his eyes. He padded out of his room which was connected to Ulquiorra's and frowned when he saw the time. It was hours after he was supposed to meet Nel. With a sigh he began to run to her room. He remembered walking to her room earlier when he got an immense headache and went to his room, hoping a nap would help him. He perked up when he saw her door and picked his pace up. He was surprised to see the door was slightly open by just a crack. He pushed it open while saying "Hey Nel, sorry I'm late I-" he cut off abruptly when he saw blood all around the room and a large hole in the wall. Ichigo paled and ran to it, peering out into the ground below. Blood was all around the sand, along with locks of green hair. Ichigo fell to his knees, crying. Nel was dead. The nicest and safest arrancar in all of Las Noches was gone. Tears cascaded down as rage filled him, digging his nails into his palms and causing blood to well. He tossed his head back and let out a furious roar. Szayel appeared soon after, setting a hand on his shoulder. "Kurosaki, what is wrong?" he said with false concern. Ichigo looked at him, anger and sorrow in his eyes. "S-someone killed Nel!" he wailed, gesturing to the sand below. The blood from his hands fell from it and dropped to the sand, mingling with Nel's below. Szayel sighed and said "That's how things are in Las Noches. A survival of the fittest. Come along. I'll take you to Ulquiorra." Ichigo wiped his eyes while sniffling, causing crimson stripes to smear under his eyes from the wounds on his hands.

Soon, Szayel guided Ichigo to Ulquiorra's room. "Its alright." Ichigo was about to open the door when Szayel began to walk away, shouting over his shoulder "Make sure to get up early tomorrow Ichigo! We have plenty of experiments to catch up on~." Ichigo walked in the room and walked to his bed. One single thought bounced around his skull. There truly was no mercy in Los Noches he thought as the tears dried on his cheeks. Ichigo grit his teeth. He didn't want to be the next person to die. Aizen's protection could only protect him for so long. There had to be arrancars who wanted him dead that didn't care if Aizen killed them and that person may even be the one who killed Nel. Ichigo became enraged by this thought and his reitsu flared up, startling Ulquiorra in the next room. Ichigo decided something right before he went into his bed: he had to be the strongest arrancar.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer/Author's notes: I don't own Bleach. And for those of you wondering, there will be more childhood Ichigo chapters. Maybe five or six. Unless I decide to fast forward to teen Ichigo and have flashbacks. Either way, here's the next chapter.**

Ichigo rubbed his eyes as he woke up. It had been months since Nel died and he had thrown himself into his training. Aizen was proud of his progress and had even suggested that Ulquiorra take the boy out into the desert and have Ichigo find his own way back. Once Ichigo became familiar with one portion of the vast sands, Ulquiorra would put him in another portion of it. Before long, Ichigo became familiar with not only the sands around Las Noches but also Hueco Mundo once more. He remembered bits and pieces from his time as a hollow and was able to find a couple of his favorite hiding spots from that time. He even found some new hollows in them, some of the lucky hollows that he used to travel with that he didn't eat. He slaughtered them without hesitation. After all, they may get stronger if he allowed them to live and try to take his life.

Ichigo remembered their screams and smirked before getting out of his bed and walking to Szayel's lab. More experiments had occurred, such as seeing how far Ichigo's spine could bend back before pain happened. Szayel would record the results and then inject him with a concoction he made up until he could bend back more with less pain. Today Szayel had a grin on his face and held a syringe. "Sit down Ichigo." Ichigo did so without complaint. The liquid inside was red with black flecks that glinted in the light.

It was shoved into his neck, and he winced with pain. He could feel it swirl and mix with his veins. He looked at Szayel and was about to say something when he got a sudden coughing fit. He looked at his hands and saw small flecks of blood. The child looked st Szayel with fear in his eyes. He felt a cut form on his back, long and thick while wounds formed on his face, under his eyes and in the middle of his forehead. Ichigo even felt blood coming from his hollow hole. He placed a hand on the table to support himself. Darkness started to creep in the corner of Ichigo's vision. It was almost like he dying all over again. With this thought, rage began to fill Ichigo. He refused to let this be the death of him. His nails dug into the metal of the table, leaving crescent shaped indents. His reitsu flared out, causing Szayel to stumble. Ichigo was determined to live and rage continued to grow along with his reitsu. The darkness receded and the wounds stopped bleeding. They healed, leaving Ichigo panting and covered in his own blood. He looked at Szayel, who had an excited expression on his face.

"What...was...that?" the child panted out. Szayel smiled at him while crouching down and wiping the blood off. "A concoction I made for you. If you survived it, it should theoretically give you the power to reopen and recreate wounds and severe injuries on your opponents when you scratch them." Ichigo looked at his nails, which were now pointed slightly. The color of flesh had changed to red with black flecks. Ichigo smiled at this and thanked Szayel. "Wait, what if I have to scratch myself for an itch?" Ichigo said, panic flooding his voice. Szayel rolled his eyes as he threw the now red towel away. "Relax. I'm not an idiot. The chemical that causes this reaction will only work if you're fighting or want the wound to happen." he said. Ichigo smiled at this prospect.

Szayel dismissed him for the day then smiled wickedly as the child walked out. Aizen wanted Ichigo to be able to kill any opponents of the Arrancars with his bare hands and take minimal damage doing so and Szayel was making sure that happened. Ichigo was making quite the amazing guinea pig. The boy could recover quickly and seemed to have an endurance that never ran out, not to mention his determination. Szayel was happy to find that Ichigo had adapted the "Kill-or-be-killed" attitude of Las Noches but still had an air of happiness about him. It was rather like having a small and tolerable Yylfordt around. Szayel wrote down something in a leather bound journal. He smiled as he remembered what he didn't tell Ichigo. The mixture inside of him would also tell Szayel his reitsu levels at all times and any information about the young arrancar's body. It would also analyze those that Ichigo would strike that managed to live through the attack so he would have some information on them.

He put the journal up and sat down at a large monitor. He pulled out a small tube of blood that he took from Ichigo earlier and compared it with the blood from the towel. It appeared that Ichigo's body would take most injections and bond them with his blood if the injection had a small bit of blood or spiritual energy infused with it. Szayel began to wonder what the result would be if it was an arracars blood in the injection. Could the boy take a small bit of that arrancar's ability? He ran a hand through pink hair in thought. That just might work. But it would have to be an arrancar that Ichigo was around often. Szayel decided to take a walk to clear his head. He left his laboratory and walked the halls and looked through a window when he saw motion in the corner of his eye. He turned his head, surprised to see that Ulquiorra and Ichigo were fighting. Ichigo was losing but was doing his best to keep up. Szayel shook his head at the violence so soon after Ichigo just finished an experimentation but smiled when he realized something. Ulquiorra would be a prime canidate. He was around the boy enough so if Ichigo got injected with a portion of the espada's blood or energy it wouldn't immediately reject it.

Szayel ran back to his lab and grabbed a notebook, scribbling down a formula. He went to grab the blood sample but his hands brushed over air. He looked over his shoulder with confusion in his eyes. It was gone. He frowned but decided it wasn't that big of a deal. He had the information from the sample on his computer so it was fine. It was probably just Yylfordt messing with him. He continued to write down the formula and a thought struck him. He was almost around Ichigo as much as Ulquiorra was, meaning it might be possible to give Ichigo a portion of Szayel's power. It would be interesting to see how the boy would react. He grinned nastily at the thought and he gave a chuckle. Yes, Ichigo truly was an amazing subject.


	11. Chapter 11

Ulquiorra sighed as he made his way to Szayel's lab. Aizen had told the fourth that Szayel needed to see Ulquiorra for a research project of some sort. Ulquiorra couldn't trust the scientist at all. Szayel seemed to have a brilliance that had crossed the line of insanity and while Ulquiorra acknowledged that Ichigo needed to get stronger if he was to fulfill Aizen's plan it seemed that Szayel was simply doing these experiments to show he could. The child was starting to get nightmares, crying in his sleep about metal tables and syringes filled with pain. It wasn't healthy. Ulquiorra shook his head. He could risk getting soft over a brat. One that called him that infuriating nickname of- "Mister Bat!" Ichigo shouted from down the hallway and started to run at him. Ulquiorra regarded him with cold eyes. Yesterday when Ichigo had called him that teasingly in their sparring session, Ulquiorra had backhanded him into a pilliar. Still, the child called him that. "What do you want?" he said. Ichigo smiled at him. "Szayel always wants me to come to his lab at this time." he said They walked in mostly silence, with Ichigo humming a small tune to himself. They were soon at the lab and walked in.

"There you are." Szayel said, addressing both of them. He held a syringe in one hand. "Ichigo, you can take the day off for experiments." The child's face lit up at this and he ran out while Ulquiorra stared at the scientist. "Please, sit down and roll your sleeve up." he asked. Ulquiorra complied. Szayel stuck the needle in his flesh and took a small blood sample. Ulquiorra was somewhat surprised when Szayel asked him to leave as he assumed the scientist wanted more. He left and began to walk around, deciding to take a walk outside to clear his head. He was walking for about fifteen minutes when he saw Grimmer staring down into a hole. He walked next to the sexta. "What are doing?" he asked. Grimmjow was surprised but frowned when he saw it was Ulquiorra. "Trying to find out what's in this hole." Ulquiorra resisted the urge to kick the fellow espada down the hole but restrained himself. "How are you doing that?" he asked. "I threw the kid down there." Grimmjow said simply. Ulquiorra really had to restrain himself this time from causing bodily harm to the idiot. He took a deep breath. "Why?" "Kid volunteered. I saw him running around here and he almost fell down this. We both wondered what was in it so he said he'd go down it if I gave him something sweet when he comes back up." Grimmjow explained to Ulquiorra before turning to the dark hole. "See anything kid?" he shouted down it. "There's a dead hollow!" Ichigo shouted back up. Ulquiorra was tempted to walk away from the child and child-like arrancar when a loud roar came from it, followed by a terrible _scree_ noise. It was silent for a second before Ichigo shouted from the hole. "Turns out it was sleeping. Now its dead!"

Ulquiorra turned to Grimmjow. "Good. You found out what's in the hole. Now how do you plan on getting him out of there?" Grimmjow was about to reply when sand hit both of them in the back. They looked over their shoulder and were surprised to see Ichigo standing behind them covered in blood and sand. Ulquiorra was tempted to roll his eyes but simply pointed to the castle. "Ichigo, you are absolutely filthy. While Grimmjow may be okay with it I am the one in charge of you and I simply refuse to allow you to be that filthy." Grimmjow snickered at this, laughing more when Ichigo pouted as he made his way to the castle. Ichigo turned back and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Don't forget you owe me something sweet, Homicidal Kitty!" before going back to walking. Grimmjow sighed when he heard Ichigo's nickname for him and turned to Ulquiorra. "Does he ever call you an embarrassing nickname?"

Meanwhile, Szayel was pouring over a formula. The sample of Ulquiorra's blood was in a beaker next to a monitor. Szayel was trying to get the genetic coding for it so he could replicate it and bond it with one of his formula's so he could inject Ichigo with it, hoping to raise the boy's power. The problem was that since they were arrancars this process was made difficult. He gave a noise of joy when he finally cracked it. He scanned over the numbers and letters and his fingers danced over the keyboard so he could print over the formula. He ran over to the printer and snatched it up with glee. Szayel then went to a table with more beakers and tubes filled with various liquids. He began to mix some of them together with a frenzy until there was a black liquid with mint green flecks in. He panted and adjusted his glasses. He took a sample of Ichigo's blood and put it in a metal beaker before pouring some of the black liquid in it. At first the substance simply sat on top of it but when Szayel gave it a small electric shock to replicate the conditions of being with Ichigo's reitsu, the liquids mixed together to create a blackish red thick fluid. Szayel smiled at his success and recorded it in his scientific journal. He then brought out a clean syringe and plunged the needle into his own flesh. He winced slightly but this had to be done. He took a sufficient amount of his blood and pulled the needle out and repeated the process he did with Ulquiorra's blood of anazlying and decoding. His was significantly easier but still took time.

He printed the formula out and began to mix the liquids together. But instead of a black liquid, the fluid that replicated his energy was a almost disgusting pink color with clumps of red and yellow. Rather than be disturbed, he smiled and took this as a compliment. He put it in another metal beaker and put a sample of Ichigo's blood in. Ichigo's blood appeared to try to settle above it but the pink liquid started to mingle with it, causing pink vein like patterns to lace through the blood. Szayel gave the mixture a shock, the fluids mixed together to create a red color flecked with pink and yellow. Szayel watched with interest and recorded the information once more. He took out two syringes and loaded them the liquids, one for each mixture. He smiled widely as he set them down and began to clean up. If all went to plan, this could end wonderfully.


	12. Important Note

p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"Okay, I have unfortunate news: I'm taking a hiatus from this fic. I apologize to the readers of this, but combined with some personal problems I'm dealing with right now, schoolwork, and my horrible case of writers block I feel like there is no alternative. Don't worry, I'll come back to this, I promise. But for now, I'm taking a break. If I forced myself to write another chapter in this state, it would be shoddy filler (at best) that you guys deserve much better from and at worst it would be garbage. I want the chapters to be something you guys can connect to or something you get strong emotions for and I think it would be impossible for that to happen when I myself can't do that. Sorry if I'm rambling. Again, I'm sorry to the people who favorited/followed this story and especially sorry to those that reviewed it but its the way it is./p 


	13. Chapter 13

p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT"span style="font-size: 11pt;"strongDisclaimer/ Author's notes: I don't own Bleach. Also, finally an update! So sorry it took me so long to make this chapter, I was having some issues with my school and home life. But hopefully I'll be able to update at least once a month./strong/span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT" /p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT"span style="font-size: 11pt;"Ichigo hummed as he walked to Szayel's lab, happily eating a sweet chocolate bar that Grimmjow gave him. He was about to knock on the door when it opened abruptly, Szayel standing on the other side with a large grin on his face that sent chills down Ichigo's spine./span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT"span style="font-size: 11pt;"He clapped his hands and said "Good! You're here!" he said while picking the child up and immediately putting him on the table. /span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT""span style="font-size: 11pt;"You usually are, but I was worried that you would get sick this one day!" Szayel said while grabbing an syringe filled with a dark red fluid. He smiled and injected it into Ichigo's neck. Ichigo flinched but Szayel already pulled the needle out. He sat down from Ichigo with a journal in his hands and watched the boy. Ichigo was clearly confused but didn't say anything. He did however feel a numbness spreading through him. It was startling. Ichigo tried to fight it but it was so tempting to just lean back and give up his emotions. Ichigo's eyes dulled when he felt it. The feeling of a new power blossoming inside him and taking some of his original power with it to boost it. It was strange but amazing. The numb sensation left him and he stretched, feeling the power beneath him. It felt like his release but it was hidden underneath his original one. Almost like a second layer to it. Szayel was scribbling something down while staring at a monitor. /span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT"span style="font-size: 11pt;"A first, it had appeared that Ichigo's reitsu levels dropped but upon closer examination it just receded back into a release beneath the boy's original one. Interesting. He smiled when he realized what this meant. Ulquiorra had a second release. Furthermore, one he was hiding from Aizen. He began to thin about what to do with the information when an irritating beeping noise filled the air. He looked over at a clock and scowled. He had to set up for an appointment with Barrigan that would start soon. /span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT"span style="font-size: 11pt;"He ushered Ichigo out of the room while smiling and saying "Come here when you wake up tomorrow! I want you here early as possible!" He smiled when he saw Ichigo shiver but had to get back to business./span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT"span style="font-size: 11pt;"About ten minutes later, Barrigan came strolling into the room. Szayel somewhat disliked the former king, mostly because he acted like he still owned the place. /span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT"span style="font-size: 11pt;"Szayel bowed nonetheless and said "Hello Barrigan. What made you want to come to my laboratory this day?" Szayel made sure to keep his voice respectful so he didn't anger the much more powerful arrancar. Barrigan looked at him disdainfully and it took nearly all of Szayel's willpower not to throw him out. It didn't matter that this man used to the king, this was Szayel's lab and he would get the respect he deserved here./span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT"span style="font-size: 11pt;"Still, Szayel did his best to keep his happy demeanor up while Barrigan began to speak. "I hate to admit it. But I'm getting older." Barrigan's voice was a bitter tone. Szayel had to hold back from smiling. /span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT" /p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT""span style="font-size: 11pt;"But you managed to strengthen the newest arrancar beyond belief. I need you to do that for me." Szayel smiled widely. Not only was he being recognized for the work he did on Ichigo, but the most prideful arrancar was begging him for help. It was too good to pass up. /span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT""span style="font-size: 11pt;"Sure. It'll take a couple months to get the formulas adjusted to your reitsu and a couple for the formulas to truly take hold but-" /span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT""span style="font-size: 11pt;"Just do it all now!" Barrigan shouted, interrupting Szayel. Szayel was surprised and was tempted to chew the elder out for interrupting him but decided against it. Besides, maybe if Szayel explained the dangers to him, he would keep quiet./span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT""span style="font-size: 11pt;"I'm afraid you're body can't handle it." Szayel knew it was a mistake to phrase it like that the moment the words came out of his mouth. Barrigan began a big tirade about how he was just as good as any other arrancar and could do whatever he wanted since he was that powerful. Szayel could feel his patience slipping away from him./span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT""span style="font-size: 11pt;"Fine! You insist on trying this? Go ahead!" Szayel said angrily, grabbing a nearby syringe. He was being questioned by someone who simply thought that he could get through this on the basis that he was the emformer /emstrongest arrancar. The main problem of the arrancars', Szayel thought as he loaded the syringe with the mixture of the many concoctions that he had pumped onto Ichigo, is that they think might makes right./span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT""span style="font-size: 11pt;"Here. Now, all at once is what you want, correct?" Szayel said, his anger now mixing with a sick form of joy at knowing what would soon happy to Barrigan. The elder nodded and Szayel without warning jammed the needle into his arm, a twisted grin on his face. Barrigan's fraccion almost struck the scientist but Szayel smiled before speaking./span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT""span style="font-size: 11pt;"Its best to do this quickly. Warning the patient makes them tense up, which makes it hurt more when I put the needle in," he explained, a sickly sweetness coating his voice. As he spoke, he pressed the plunger on the needle down which caused a toxic looking black mixture to flow into Barrigan's veins. As the last drop went into the elder, Szayel eased the syringe out. He took a step back and watched with a knowing smirk. Barrigan's skin began to pale as the liquid began to take effect. A wet cough came out of his mouth, blood coming from his mouth and splattering his pristine white outfit. He looked up at the scientist. /span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT""span style="font-size: 11pt;"W-what did you do to me?" he chocked out before coughing again, more blood coming up this time. Szayel sighed before speaking./span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT""span style="font-size: 11pt;"You literally asked for this. I told you that you couldn't handle it. But no. I gave you the full and complete mixture emlike you asked for. /emIts reacting to your reitsu rather poorly though," Szayel said. The look Barrigan gave him was pure anger and malice, but Szayel wasn't surprised by it. He was actually reveling in it, knowing that Barrigan's last moments would be him hating the scientist./span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT""span style="font-size: 11pt;"There has to b-be some way to stop this!" he shouted, starting to choke up on his own blood. Szayel smiled and walked over to Barrigan until he was standing directly in front of him. His smile was warm, like one you would give to an old friend./span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT""span style="font-size: 11pt;"No, there isn't. Die you old fool," Szayel hissed out the last part. Barrigan tried to sputter out a response but all that came out was a pained gurgle. Barrigan fell back, his corpse still warm. Szayel looked at the stunned fraccion and quickly dealt with him, his sword slicing across the fraccion's throat. Szayel looked at the gore around the room, and a small smile formed on his face. Aizen would most likely be mad at first, but it wouldn't matter. The research and the work he did on Ichigo was too important to Aizen so he would most likely spare Szayel from punishment. Besides, even if Aizen tried to punish Szayel, the scientist would reveal that Ulquiorra was hiding a secret second release from their leader and Aizen's anger would be directed to the fourth. /span/p  
p lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="LEFT"span style="font-size: 11pt;"Szayel hummed as he got to work cleaning the bodies up. This would work out just fine for him./span/p 


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's notes/Disclaimer: Still don't own Bleach. Anyway, after this chapter I'll be having a time skip to when the Arrancars invade Karakura town to save time and move the plot along faster. If I need some more child Ichigo parts to the story, it'll be explained in a flashback. Hope that's not an inconvenience.**

 _Ichigo smiled as he ran into his mother's arms, a grin on his face. Her smile was wide and welcoming, making Ichigo feel safe. He hadn't felt like this in a really long time. Ichigo saw his dad over his mother's shoulder. Isshin hugged the two of them and Ichigo laughed. Pure happiness was what he was feeling. There wasn't any pain for once. He heard some footsteps coming towards Ichigo and his parents from behind. Wiggling around in his parents arms until he could see where the footsteps were coming from and he saw his sisters but there was something... wrong with them. Karin had jagged scars across her face and was staring at Ichigo with pure hatred. Ichigo was But Yuzu... Yuzu was a bloody skeleton. He only recognized her from the lifeless head that was on her body, the flesh from the chin down completely gone. Her eyes stared at him blankly, tear streaks that were slowly drying underneath the lifeless sockets._

" _You did this!" Karin yelled, taking a step forward with her fists clenched at her side. Ichigo wanted to deny it, but only a roar came out of his mouth. He turned to his parents and saw fear in both of their faces. Why were they scared? They let him go and stepped backward, acting like they had just seen a beast. Ichigo reached forward for them, wanting comfort from his loving family. However, instead of seeing his own hands, he simply saw the bloodstained claws of a monst-_

"Wake up." Ichigo's eyes shot open from the nightmare he was having. He looked at Ulquiorra, who came into his room to wake him.

"Aizen-sama has requested all espadas to the meeting room. I was told to bring you," Ulquiorra said. Ichigo tossed his legs over the side of the bed and ran to Ulquiorra, not wanting to keep the fourth waiting. They walked to the meeting room, Ichigo having to practically run to catch up with Ulquiorra's brisk speed. When they got to the massive room, two single seats right next to each other were open. Ichigo quickly ran to one while Ulquiorra took a more calm but still speedy pace.

"Its good to see that you're all here," Aizen stated. His voice was practically oozing power at this point and all the arrancars snapped to attention upon hearing it, even Ichigo. The former soul reaper looked around at them before speaking again.

"Its been brought to my attention that one of you has been keeping a secret from me." The others looked around the room at their comrades, wondering who was the one that was hiding something. Aizen smiled before he spoke.

"Szayel, why don't you tell the others what you told me?" All heads turned to look at the scientist, who had an all knowing smirk upon his lips. He stood up and locked eyes with Ulquiorra.

"Ulquiorra has a second release that he has been hiding from us." As soon as Szayel said this, the room went dead quiet. Ulquiorra remained emotionless as usual but he felt a small stirring of worry within him.

"Ulquiorra. Is this true?" the leader's voice rang out throughout the spacious room, completely devoid of any positive tone. Ichigo let out a small shiver at the former Soul reaper's voice.

"Yes Lord Aizen," Ulquiorra said, turning to Aizen. "I apologize for keeping this information from you my king."

Aizen was silent for a couple seconds, all of the espadas' eyes on him. Some were worried about what he might do to the fourth, others had bloodlust in their eyes as if they couldn't wait to see Ulquiorra get punished. Szayel appeared to be practically salivating while picturing Ulquiorra getting yelled at or demoted by Aizen.

"Well, this is actually beneficial for us," Aizen said, his voice gaining a slight happy edge to it rather than the purely business tone from before.

"As you all know, recently Barrigan has passed. Ulquiorra, I would like you to take his slot." Everyone was surprised when the leader said this, but his next set of words shocked them more. "And Ichigo, you will take Ulquiorra's role as the fourth."

"Are ya fucking kidding me?!" Nnoitra stood up in rage. "First ya put a women in a higher spot than me, but now a damn kid?!" Nnoitra knew he was pushing it right now, but to him this was too far. He grit his teeth while his fists clenched at his side.

"Yes Nnoitra. That's exactly what's going to happen. Are you questioning my judgment? Perhaps you know better than me," Aizen's voice took on a dangerous edge as he spoke and Nnoitra know he had made a mistake. He quickly sat down as to not anger Aizen further and even ducked his head shamefully.

"Of course not sir," Nnoitra said. Aizen smiled and chuckled slightly.

"Good. Now then, this meeting is over. You are all dismissed," he said. They all quickly left, Nnoitra going especially fast. Ichigo was walking at Ulquiorra's side.

"Mister Bat, can I ask you a question?" Ulquiorra sighed when he heard the nickname but let it slid for now.

"Why were arrancar's made?" Ichigo asked. Granted, he was very happy to be one. But the question burned in his mind ever since he gained the humanoid form.

"To be stronger," Ulquiorra said in his normal flat tone.

"I know that! But why do we need to be stronger? And why are we training? Why did Aizen create us?" Ichigo said, his voice raising as he spouted his questions. Ulquiorra paused, seeming to consider this very question.

"Aizen has a plan. He needs us to fight for him. And you'll be very important to this plan." With that answer, Ulquiorra walked down the hallway, leaving Ichigo to process this news.


End file.
